


Pushed Buttons

by Hazama_d20



Category: Danny Phantom
Genre: Gen, Identity Reveal, Obsesssions, ghost speak, you done goofed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 11:35:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,346
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28742580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hazama_d20/pseuds/Hazama_d20
Summary: Obsessions are not a thing to be taken lightly, it's the very existence of a ghost. Confronting a ghost about their obsession is a good way to get hurt.Hello, misplaced aggression.
Comments: 18
Kudos: 375





	Pushed Buttons

**Author's Note:**

> Again, thanks to [aniura](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aniura) and [HeroineOfTime](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeroineofTime). Both of them helped me edit this thing, and HeroineOfTime gave me a functional ghost language to use.

* * *

When Sam and Tucker got to Fenton Works, they knew it was going to be a bad day. They had yet to start making their way up the steps before they could hear shouting. 

Jack Fenton’s voice came out clearly as he shouted, “He’s a menace!” 

Danny, who usually didn’t argue with his parents, shouted back just as loudly, “You’re just mad he’s doing a better job protecting the town than you!”

Sam and Tucker shared a look of shock.

“He’s the whole reason why the town is under attack!”

“Oh, and that has nothing to do with the freaking GHOST PORTAL you two built?” 

“Excuse me? Young man, are you insinuating that _we’re_ the reason why all the ghosts are attacking?”  
“Well, there were none before that portal was opened!” 

“Daniel James Fenton! How could you say that about our life’s work!”  
“Oh, now that it’s your life’s work, it’s fine. But when someone else is cleaning up the ghosts around town, they’re a menace?”

“That huntress girl isn’t a menace at all!” 

“That’s _ not  _ my point!”

“Danny.” His mother changed tones, no longer shouting but instead talking softly like one would to a child who just didn’t know better. “You need to understand, Phantom is a threat to everyone. Ghosts lie. All they want to do is fulfill their obsessions. They’ll do  _ anything  _ to make that happen.”

There was a moment of silence.

Then more shouting. “Just  _ where _ do you think you’re going, young man?”

“To school! If you’re gonna treat me like I’m stupid, we’re not going to have this conversation.” 

“Danny, sweetie, you just don’t understand-”

“I know that Danny Phantom is keeping this town safe, and you want to vivisect him!”

“You mean dissect. Vivisect is for a living creature, which Phantom is not. He’s just a pseudo-consciousness imprinted on ectoplasm. It’s like… it’s a computer program.”

“This conversation is over.” 

Danny burst out of the door and slammed it shut. He sighed and turned around, startling when he saw them. “Oh,” he began. He shifted his backpack and stared at a crack on the ground. “How… how long were you guys there?”  
“A while,” Sam admitted. She put her hand on Danny’s shoulder. “Around when your dad shouted about the Phantom Menace.” 

Danny smiled weakly. It was one of those smiles you made when the options were that or crying. “You heard that, huh?”  
Tucker pointed. “Window’s open.” 

Danny sighed and walked down to the sidewalk. “Let’s just go.”

“Anything we can do?” Sam asked. 

Danny shook his head. He grabbed both of their wrists and started pulling them toward the school. “No… just… stay close today?”

Sam and Tucker looked at each other and nodded. “We can do that,” Tucker said. 

Smoothly and subtly, they wiped the frost forming on their arms, a silent shared ritual they’d long grown accustomed to.

* * *

The three of them sat down in Mr. Lancer’s English class. They were early for a change, which was nice, but it was also setting off warning bells in Danny’s head. He usually had to fight and catch at least one ghost on the way to school. The only reason why ghosts didn’t show up was usually because something bigger was nearby.

Danny’s knee bounced underneath the desk. Sam placed a hand on it, trying to help him keep it steady. As it was, the desks nearby were shaking with each ghost-enhanced stomp. 

Danny rubbed his face. “I’m sorry guys, I wish I didn’t have to deal with this.” 

Tucker looked up from his PDA. “Deal with what?”

Danny looked around. “Xtksp f…“ (With my obsession…)  
Sam and Tucker looked at each other with wide eyes. Danny avoided speaking in that language in public, but if he had to talk about his obsession, it was bad. After a moment of panic, the two of them calmed down, and Tucker raised a questioning eyebrow at Sam. She scoffed and shook her head. “Don’t be mad cause you haven’t learned ghost speak yet.” 

Tucker scoffed. “Sorry, I do not want Clockwork putting stuff in my head. Alright?” 

Sam smacked Tucker on the arm and turned toward Danny. “Lhph x xtksp sth fs?”(Is your obsession bothering you?) She rubbed a circle on his back as if she could stop his obsession from hurting him.

Danny hissed, and his eyes turned green just for a moment. “Sthf sh!” (Of course!) he confirmed, “Kh x fshp s phx pfshs lhss ththf lhkhsh ththf ssh ths. Sshp s sys lhss kh ths sht Felicia xskpsh chts ssh x lhthf.” (My parents just started pushing and pushing on it. They’re blaming me for Ms. Felicia injuring her leg!)

Sam frowned. She wasn’t surprised that Danny’s parents hurt Danny with his obsession; it was half the reason he wasn’t comfortable telling them, but blaming him for Ms. Feilica’s injury was ridiculous. “Flhsh xskpsh chch kxk ssh fslh sh Skulker x lhthf ths pshth?” (Didn’t Ms. Felicia get hurt cause she kicked Skulker’s leg?)  
Danny nodded. “P’xc sh p’sh. Lhkhsh shcf sh Felicia x lhthf ths.” (Kicked it clean off him actually. Also fractured her leg)

Some students came into the classroom, obviously surprised that the trio were on time. The trio ignored them. Sam continued talking in ghost speak. “Chsh lhph s sx shsk!” (But you weren’t even there!) she pointed out. The three of them had been in detention because of the Lunch Lady at the time.

Danny threw his arms out. “Xktsh lhss!” (I know!) He slumped down. “Xktsh lhss ssh ths! Chsh… chsh sshp s sys lhss kh ths. Fp’f kh s xt txt chts lhkhsh ththf sshp ths. Lhkhsh chts sh.” (I know that! It’s… It’s just that they’re blaming me. Saying I’m the reason why everyone is getting hurt and attacked. And it  _ hurts _ .) 

Paulina walked by and sat down in front of the three of them. She plastered a big grin on her face. “Ooooh, I  _ love  _ foreign languages. I didn’t know you guys were bilingual, too. ”

Sam rolled her eyes. “Doubt you’re actually interested, Paulina. Anyways, private conversation, hence the whole speaking in another language thing.”

Paulina stifled a laugh. “Nooo, really! We can teach each other. I can teach you Spanish and you can teach me…” She waved her hand, waiting for the name.

Sam growled. “None of your  _ business.” _

Paulina let a cackle loose. “Don’t tell me you  _ made it up?” _

Sam stood up, slamming her hands on the table. “For your  _ information,  _ Paulina-”

Danny quickly put a hand on her shoulder, cutting his friend off. “Sam!”

The goth crossed her arms and sat back down. “Thxhf…”

Paulina covered her grin with her hand. “Aww, don’t be embarrassed!” She exclaimed between suppressed laughs. “It’s  _ so cute  _ you have time to sit around making up languages together. Not everyone can have important things to do, you know?”

Danny turned toward Paulina with a glare. “Sx sth chks kh ths Paulina, sx shhtx.” (Don’t push me Paulina, not today.)

Paulina paled, her smile dropping for just a moment as she took in Danny’s words. She gulped, plastering a smile back on her face. But this time, it didn’t reach her eyes. “Um, like I said,  _ sooo  _ cute. Maybe you can start a club for creepy nerd codes.” She turned to go, walking shakily back to where her friend group sat. A chorus of laughs erupted as she rejoined the circle of jocks and cheerleaders.

Tucker put a hand on Danny’s shoulder. “Look, I’m not sure what’s going on right now, but should I go pull the fire alarm or something? Get us all out of class?”

Danny shook his head. “Sx, kh s shhyss sh phx tshkx lhsh…” (No, I think that would  _ really  _ set me off here…)

“Uh, dude? C’mon.” 

Danny turned. “Ksx?” (What?)

Sam reached over and squeezed Danny’s wrist, digging her nails into his wrist. Danny knew that Tucker didn’t speak the language. If he was forgetting how to speak English at the moment, it was really bad. “Danny, lhph s fp’f k’shkst ths. Sx stshcs chks.” (Danny, you’re speaking in ghost speak. Stay with us here.)  
Tucker grabbed Danny’s other wrist. “Dude, class is starting. You going to be able to keep it together?”

Danny hissed and looked down at his hands, then at the door to the room. “Lhphsp… Cshs kh s--” (Guys… Maybe I should-)

Whatever he was about to suggest was cut off when he gasped and a vapor escaped from his lips.

The two full humans followed the vapor with their eyes and then looked at Danny, who stared blankly off into space. 

Sam spoke first. “Ksc.” (Shit.)

The bell rang.

It was fortunate the rest of the class didn’t notice the tension, due more to Sam and Tucker knowing how to distract and handle Danny more than anything else. Sam held onto Danny’s wrist, her black nails leaving indentations in his skin, and she whispered thankful words into his ear with only a slight blush on her face. 

All the while, Tucker kept intentionally interrupting class and asking questions. Mr. Lancer was obviously thrown for a loop, torn between being happy that someone was paying attention to his lesson plan and frustrated at his irreverence. 

They had almost forgotten that Danny had sensed a ghost before class when they heard the sound of roaring jets. They had just enough time to register the sound and dive for cover before Skulker phased through the ceiling. “Hah! The ghost child is losing his touch I see!” he shouted. “In that case! He better get ready to chase down some bait!” he said, reaching out and grabbing Star as she tried to jump away from him. 

“Ghost emergency, pattern B!” Lancer shouted.

All the students jumped up and ran toward the edges of the room, taking positions near doors and windows. All except one student. 

“Fenton!” Paulina shouted. “I swear, if you get Star hurt!”

Danny hadn’t moved at all; instead, he stared dead ahead, gasping for breath. 

Dash shouted from the back of the room. “Guys! The door won’t open!” He slammed on the door with his shoulder, but it wouldn’t budge. 

Skulker laughed. “Oh, it wouldn’t do if I let you all run about like rats.”

Sam repeated her earlier sentiment. “Ksc,” (Shit ) She thought to herself on how to prevent the worst from happening. Step one was to not push Danny any further, and that meant she had to do her best to be calm. She took a deep breath and looked toward Tucker.

Tucker shook his head and sighed sadly. “He’s fucked.” 

Lancer glanced up from fiddling with the windows to use as an alternate means of egress and turned toward Tucker. “Language, Foley!” he chided, almost like an afterthought, “and that’s your friend!”

“I wasn’t talking about Danny,” Tucker stated simply.

Skulker turned toward Tucker and Sam. “What is his issue?”  
Sam raised her hands and took a step forward. “S… Skulker? Lhthf xhspx?” (Uh… Skulker? How’s the leg?)

Skulker raised an eyebrow. “Ghost speak?” He began in English. “Shthsh sh, lhkhsh t’x sh ksfx p’shp. K’shksp xhf s fs?” (It’s repaired, and ready to try again. What is going on with the ghost child?)

Sam chuckled nervously. “Lhph s tsksh sh shh xts ksfx ththf.” (You picked a BAD day to try something.)

Skulker jerked Star about. She cried out in pain as Paulina shouted, “Star!” 

Danny’s head snapped to Skulker, and frost began to appear on the blackboard behind him. 

“S, ssh, xx tsxs lhph ths. Ththf sh Danny x xtksp shhtx.” (Uh, yeah, was about to warn you about that. Danny’s had his obsession pushed today.)

Skulker glanced at the board behind him and then at Danny. “Oh…” 

“What are you guys saying! Stop talking in that creepy language!” Paulina shouted. Sam shot a glance her way and saw tears half formed in her eyes. 

Skulker also looked at her. “Aren’t you the human girl who has a crush on Phantom? You do realize that we’re talking in his language, right?”  
Sam shrugged. “She’s not exactly the brightest.”

Skulker scoffed, “Apparently.” 

“Excuse me! Rude!” 

The rest of the class began to murmur. This was not normal at all. The most egregious of which was that Danny Fenton was  _ never  _ around for a ghost attack. The prevailing theory was irritable bowel syndrome, but the fact that he was never around a ghost attack was a well-known thing. “Okay,” Sam called out clearly. “I’m only going to say this once. No one talk, no one move, and maybe we’ll all get out of this without massive property damage.”

Skulker took a step forward. “Speak for yourself, girl,” he said, glancing back at the icy stalagmites that were growing off the blackboard slowly. No one missed his eyes zeroing back in on Danny, who hadn’t moved a muscle since Skulker showed up.

Sam turned toward him. “I’m talking to you too, you know.” She looked at Star and then back up to Skulker. “You should probably let her go.”  
Skulker shook his head. “You must be joking, she’s the only defense I have at the moment.”

Tucker pointed at him. “Dude, what you got there isn’t leverage. It’s a ticking time bomb!”

Danny sucked in a breath, and the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees. 

“Tucker,” Sam began. She turned towards Tucker with a very forced grin on her face. “x fp’f chks sht txklhp xts, shthsh?” (No talking about things like that, okay?)  
“Can’t you use Esperanto like the rest of us? I don’t know ghost speak!”

“Anyways!” Sam cut off. “Tucker’s right you know.” 

“Guys… the door’s frozen shut,” Dash announced to the class. The announcement sent a wave of panic across the students, and the temperature dropped more. 

“Everyone! Stay calm!” Tucker shouted, which didn’t exactly instill confidence.

“Yeah, we’re not exactly trapped in here,” Sam began. “The only thing in danger right now is the tin can over there.”

Skulker tore his eyes off Danny for a moment to look at her. “The pink one is right, you are rude.” 

Lancer looked at the only two students who weren’t panicking. “You two are handling this… extremely well…” he couldn’t help but point out.

The two of them nodded. “I mean,” Sam began, waving her arm about. “It helps that we’re not in any actual danger.”

“Hello, captive here!” Star called out.

Sam waved her off. “Star, the worst you’re getting out of this is a bruise.”

Danny slowly began to move. Everyone held their breath as he reached up and gripped the sides of his desk and frost began to form across the top of it. If that was the end of it, it probably would have just been another instance of weirdness that they could have explained away later. But instead, Danny’s clothes began to ruffle as if affected by the wind, and papers began to circle around him. 

And a glowing circle appeared around his waist. 

A girl in the class shrieked in response. “That ghost is gonna get Danny next!” 

Skulker scoffed. “Me _?  _ That’s the boy’s  _ own  _ doing.”

Mr. Lancer turned to Sam and Tucker, eyes wide. “ _ What  _ is he talking about?”

Tucker turned toward Sam, paying their teacher no mind. “What was that about not pointing certain things out right now?”

“I thought you didn’t speak ghost.”

Tucker grumbled, “I don’t need to speak the language to understand ‘you done fucked up now.’”

Mr. Lancer raised his hands. “I won’t claim to understand what’s going on but-”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Sam cut him off with a resigned sigh. They had about 10 seconds before her friend’s secret was exposed to the class. “Skulker thought today was a good day to mess with Phantom and has now bitten off WAY more than he can chew, cause the guy who literally shoved the Ghost King into a box is actually pissed today, and is now running off instinct instead of human emotions.”

Everyone focused on Danny, eyes glued to the neon rings encircling the boy.  
Tucker groaned and wiped his hand down his face. “Mr. Lancer, didn’t you just go over a lesson in inductive reasoning?”

Skulker shrugged. “Humans aren’t exactly observant creatures.”

“Says the one who literally just set off the biggest cluster fuck of the century?”

Skulker chuckled nervously. “Oh, please. it won’t be that bad.” 

Tucker laughed openly at him. “Keep telling yourself that, dude.”

Dash growled angrily, “I don’t get it, what’s going on? What are those things?”

Sam shot Dash a glare. “Don’t talk like that right now.” She glared at the entire class. “I’m serious. Stay. Calm. I’m still hoping to get out of this without anyone getting hurt!” 

Dash folded his arms. “Fine,” he grumbled. “I guess we can just wait till Phantom gets here and he can start bea-”

“Don’t!” Sam snipped. “Don’t finish that sentence! Don’t say anything like that!”

Dash blinked. “Like what? Beating?” 

_ Crack _ . 

The desk in front of Fenton snapped in half, the rings disappearing with a pop. Glowing green eyes zeroed in on Skulker. The flames on Skulker’s head went out, and he slowly reached up to confirm it for himself. “Oh… butter biscuits.” 

Danny jumped up with a primal scream. He launched himself at Skulker. He phased right through Star and tackled the ghost through the wall, leaving nothing behind but a wall of ice. 

Sam winced. “Oooohhh… whelp. Can’t say I didn’t try.”

Explosions sounded from the next room over, and screams echoed in the school. 

Tucker winced. “Oh, man, is this gonna be a Cujo incident again?”

A second later Skulker’s head burst through the wall; this time, no phasing was used. He blinked and looked at Sam and Tucker. “Please! Get the thermos!” Skulker begged before being pulled back through the wall.

Sam couldn’t help but laugh, though she didn’t move. “This is gonna make the Cujo incident look like Sidney’s prom night,” she joked. No point in hiding anything now.

“One two three not it!” Tucker shouted quickly. 

“OH god damn it!” Sam groaned. She sighed and walked over to her backpack. She pulled out her phone and began typing a number in. 

Skulker came crashing through the wall and bounced off the ground. Sam stepped around him with nary a glance as he sat up and shook his head. He realized where he was and then scrambled for Danny’s backpack. 

He almost got his hands on the backpack before Danny came through the wall and grabbed his ankle. With one arm, he pulled back the massive ghost. 

Skulker dug his fingers into the ground, leaving trails in the cheap tile. “Mercy!” he begged. 

Danny’s response was to rear back and whip him through the window. 

Sam brought the phone up to her ear as Danny floated in the air and chased after the ghost. “Hey, Mr. Fenton, I think you need to come down to the school.”

“My armor doesn’t bend that way!”

“No, Danny’s fine, it’s… well, he’s fighting a ghost right now.”

“Why did I install neural circuits!” 

“No, Danny doesn’t need any help. Look, just… drive down here, but leave the ghost tech at home, okay? Danny has enough in his locker.”

“You’re gonna break it! You’re gonna-” The sound of metal shearing echoed throughout the school, like nails on a chalkboard. “OW!”

“Yeah… uh… we may have been stealing your ghost stuff to hunt ghosts. Danny would tell you but uhhh… he’s working out some aggression right now.” She took a quick breath and then rushed out, “Okayseeyousoonbye!” before hanging up.

Lancer glanced at her, and then followed the rest of his class’s gaze to Danny out in the yard. “Care to explain what that was about? Or how Danny is flying right now?” He blinked. “Or why Danny is currently beating Skulker with his own arms?”

Sam chuckled. “Uh… yeah, I guess we have some explaining to do, huh? Can it wait till the Fentons get here? I don’t want to have to do this twice.”

  
  



End file.
